All posts tagged Senate Finance Committee

The new chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), outlined five priorities for helping to boost the middle class at a hearing on Thursday. They include:

- Finding “fresh” policies to improve education and learning, including helping students obtain data they could use to compare schools, as well as refining the “rigid structure” of current federal aid programs; Read More »

John Koskinen, a corporate consultant and President Barack Obama’s choice to run the troubled Internal Revenue Service, was expected to face tough questions at a confirmation hearing Tuesday on topics ranging from tea-party targeting to the new health-care overhaul.

But barring some mishap, he appeared to be headed for a positive recommendation from the Senate Finance Committee, some Republicans said. The committee was not expected to vote on Mr. Koskinen on Tuesday.

As the committee hearing opened on Tuesday, Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) urged lawmakers to make up their minds quickly about Mr. Koskinen. Mr. Baucus noted that Mr. Koskinen was nominated by Mr. Obama more than 130 days ago. Before this year, the longest any nominee for IRS commissioner had waited for confirmation was 100 days, Mr. Baucus said… Read More »

Members of a House-Senate budget committee on Wednesday indicated they might want to put the issue of tax reform on the table – just not their table.

In the budget negotiations, Republicans are worried that including tax issues would give Democrats an opening to demand significant tax increases. Instead, many Republicans are hoping to leave any tax rewrite largely in the hands of the House and Senate tax-writing committees, which are already working on it.

“From my perspective, taking more from hardworking families [through tax increases] just isn’t the answer,” said Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), the House Budget Committee chairman, in his opening statement as the conference committee met for the first time Wednesday. “I know my Republican colleagues feel the same way. So I want to say this from the get-go: If this conference becomes an argument about taxes, we’re not going to get anywhere.”… Read More »

The Senate Finance Committee approved the nomination of Michael Froman, President Barack Obama‘s pick for U.S. trade representative, and sent it to the full Senate for consideration.

Mr. Froman faced little direct opposition at a confirmation hearing last week, although some Republicans criticized Mr. Obama for tapping another official with offshore investments despite the president’s criticism of tax shelters abroad.

“This is an example of the president’s having one set of standards for his political opponents and another for his friends and supporters,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) said in a statement Tuesday… Read More »

Senate Finance Committee members are having bipartisan talks on how and whether to overhaul the much-criticized U.S. tax code, and are expected to soon begin a series of more formal meetings, as House Ways and Means members already have.

Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) already is working with committee members to put together bipartisan discussion papers for the members to consider and provide input. Read More »

The Senate Finance Committee held a cordial confirmation hearing this morning for Jacob Lew, President Barack Obama’s nominee to be Treasury secretary. Mr. Lew, who has been the White House chief of staff since last year and previously had been director of the Office of Management and Budget, faced questions on a range of topics from budget cuts, tax overhaul, and China’s currency to his time at Citigroup Inc.

Read Washington Wire’s live blog of the hearing:

9:58 am (EST)

Jeffrey Sparshott and Corey Boles

In his prepared testimony, Jacob Lew waded directly into a fiscal policy fight, urging senators to avoid $85 billion in automatic spending cuts set for March 1.

"We cannot allow the series of harmful automatic spending cuts known as the sequester to go into effect on March 1. These cuts would impose self-inflicted wounds to the recovery and put far too many jobs and businesses at risk," Mr. Lew said in the testimony prepared for the Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing.

About Washington Wire

Washington Wire is one of the oldest standing features in American journalism. Since the Wire launched on Sept. 20, 1940, the Journal has offered readers an informal look at the capital. Now online, the Wire provides a succession of glimpses at what’s happening behind hot stories and warnings of what to watch for in the days ahead. The Wire is led by Reid J. Epstein, with contributions from the rest of the bureau. Washington Wire now also includes Think Tank, our home for outside analysis from policy and political thinkers.